Searching for the perfect college - an eye opening and daunting task
For most of us, the idea of finding the perfect university for our child is like finding the Holy Grail. The possibilities seem endless, the costs prohibitive. They are, and...they are. But with a little effort, there will be "the right" college for your child too!
OK, you say- we have 4 years. Plenty of time. Words from the now wiser. Start now. Make lists. Ask questions. Read, read, read.
After AP classes, PSAT,SAT, ACT, IB.....your child still may not have any idea of "What they want to do when the grow up." They will change their minds multiple times, but the basic choices will remain the same.
Where: do they want to go?
School size: size does matter
Campus and dorms: what are the facilites?
Clubs: as important as the classes
And for mom and dad...
Classes: OK- this may be more important to you at first!
Cost: It costs HOW MUCH????
Financial Aid options: Do they (the college) and we (our savings account) have any?
Is the lightbulb on now? Fear not. I just finished this process and my daughter is heading to the "perfect" college in August. We survived the process. And we did it while living in Malaysia...and that is a completely different lens!
Where and when do I begin?
Actually, this should read, where and when should (insert son/daughter's name) begin!
Where does one begin the college search?
- Older siblings, cousins, neighbors friends: From them you will get the "inside" scoop.
- School counselor: They have books, brochures, lists of colleges visiting the school and or area.
- The library: Depending on the size of your town, they usually have a great selection of titles.
- The bookstore: I like to pick up books and look inside. The bookstore has the newest releases.
- The internet: More on favorite sites further on.
Books are important in this process!
At the bookstore
The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price
Amazon Price: $13.59 (as of 10/08/2008)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 10/08/2008)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 10/08/2008)
Usually ships in 24 hours
America's Best Colleges for B Students: A College Guide for Students Without Straight A's (America's Best Colleges for B Students)
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 10/08/2008)
Usually ships in 24 hours
Step 2- Now you are on a roll!
OK- Now is the time to get out a pad of paper.Brainstorm the things with your student that are most important to them in a university. I know, you will want to add your 2 cents worth. Fear not, you too will have some input in the process!
Take the brainstorming list and make a new list giving each of the items a rating of importance on a scale of 1-5. 5 is more important than 1.
Your list will look something like this:
Location (listing the state or town) 5
Size (small, medium, large) 5
Boy/girl ratio: 3
Major: 5
Cost: 2
(This could take up an entire page or more)
You get the idea!
Once you get the list figured out, (did I mention this list and the value of importance for each item will likely change a number of time over the course of your search?) you will be ready for the next step.
Researching the colleges.
Now that you have collected your books and brochures. ....
The next step
The college search process can and will be as simple or as difficult as you want it to be. Perhaps your child is at the top of their class and know they want to go to an ivy league school. Perhaps your child will go to (they hope) the same university their mom/dad/siblings went to.A large number of students choose to go to school in their home state. Don't think that makes your job any easier. Have you taken a good look at the number of colleges in your home state? I just did a quick look for the state of Virgina......here there are over 75. Yikes!
Another large number of students will choose to go to university in one of the neighboring state....Hmmmm. Figure about 4 states-times that by 75. Now you've got it!
If your child is the typical overextended overachiever, they will find little time to move forward on the process until the last minute. If you are OK with that scenario, I applaud you. Me, I am not fond of ulcers and preferred my time investment to the stomach ache alternative!
We went to Princetonreview.com first and did the somewhat lengthy questionnaire called Counselor-O-Matic to get a list of suggested universities.
The next phase was my part. I went through each suggested university by going to the Princeton Review link about it. All the statistics are listed that you have on your list and more you never though of. Once of the features I always looked at was: The College Says/The Students Say. Remember this will be part of getting the big picture.
If the college looked like a possibility based on the list my daughter created, I saved the school in the favorites list and and sent my daughter a link for the university web site. After she looked at the website, she would give me a yes/no and so it went. At one point, there were over 100 colleges on the favorites list!
Within the Princeton Review is a little addition that will show you similar schools and schools within the area. We often found other schools not on the "recommended" list.
This is where you also add in the colleges that you have already thought about or heard about. Add those to the favorites list.
Now, if you are the parent of a Freshman or Sophomore you can pause for awhile. Keep going back and checking the list. Add or delete as priorities change.
If your child is a Junior, soldier on. If your child is a Senior, fortify yourself.
The research won't stop here. Below I have listed some links of other websites. You will find rankings, reviews and more.
Links of sites we used in the search process
- College Rankings and Lists | The Princeton Review
- Browse our college rankings section, evaluate different schools, and pick the best match to meet your educational goals.
- College Rankings
- CollegeConfidential.com rates College Rankings - USNews, and more.
- College Rankings | College Prowler
- College rankings on 20 campus life topics, determined by current students. Check out our university rankings to see which colleges rank the best!
- College Rankings - Home
- College and University Rankings Website, based on Academics, Athletics, Quality of Life criteria and Cost.
- Two New Lists in the Next College Rankings - Morse Code: Inside ...
- Jun 20, 2008 ... Find out which colleges are the most "Up and Coming" and which schools high school counselors pick.
- Rankings for 100 Best Values in Public Colleges
- You can search the top colleges by state or sort college rankings for the best values in colleges by cost, student faculty ratio, financial aid awards, ...
- OEDb's Online College Rankings 2008 | OEDb
- OEDb's Online College Rankings 2008. ... This table simply shows the overall ranking of each college, with its average rank in the right-hand column ...
- StudentsReview Dynamic College Rankings : Over 65500 Student Reviews
- Dynamic University & College Rankings Students Know Best. .... College reviews and University reviews and ratings by students and for students ...
- CollegeHumor's 2007 - 2008 Power Rankings - America's Top Colleges ...
- The best humor site on the internet. Funny videos, funny pictures, jokes, and original comedy videos.
- College Grader
- College Grader is a free independent college reviews service. We are asking students to grade your college experiences and provide the best college ratings available. We than can rank colleges for students who are trying to make decisions about which college to attend. We use these college ratings in our College Search tool and of course on this website.
- Colleges of Distinction - A College Search Tool
- The Colleges of Distinction are a unique group of 200 colleges and universities that excel at 1) engaging students, 2) providing outstanding teaching, 3) offering vibrant communities, and 4) producing successful outcomes, the pillars of a strong and active undergraduate education.
- College Admissions, Search, and Financial Aid Help from College Confidential
- CollegeConfidential provides College Admissions, School Search, and Financial Aid Resources to students and parents, from Ivy League to State Colleges.
- College Admissions, Search, and Financial Aid Help from College Confidential
- CollegeConfidential provides College Admissions, School Search, and Financial Aid Resources to students and parents, from Ivy League to State Colleges.
So many schools, so little time!
Edit,edit,edit
Theoretically this search will have taken place no later than the beginning of the Junior year of school.If your student is a Junior, now is the time for them to start editing their choices. All your research will pay off at this point because decision making is so much easier when you are armed with information.
I made a time-line for my daughter. She had to be down to 50 schools by the end of December. We were living abroad so we had more time leeway. If you are living in the U.S. the list should be down to 20-25 by this time.
"Wait!", you say, there are still 100 schools on the list. This is how the list gets smaller fast. It is up to your child to write a letter of inquiry to each university they are interested in.
Have them type a general letter that they can cut and paste. In the letter, they should introduce themselves, tell their interests, their grade point average, extra-curriculars, etc. When they have a well written short letter, they need to find out the name of the admissions counselor for their state and email them directly. Most kids are NOT interested in sending 100+ letters!
Make sure to make a folder on your desktop where you can make folders inside of each university on the list. Place all correspondence inside the folder for future reference. Some if not many of the schools will send auto response if they don't send their letter to a real person. Some of these letters will also help cut the interest level down.
Congratulations. You and your child have reached the end of December. Everyone is still alive and your are ready for the next step.
Drum roll please........................
I suggest spending the spring of Junior year visiting schools. And yes, visiting 20-25 colleges is possible and a VERY, VERY good idea. We did it and we survived.
My next lens: You want me to visit how many colleges?????
Which colleges are best Ivy League, Private or Public?
The debate is about to begin!
So here is the big debate. Some people think it is all about the Ivy League or Top tier schools. What do you think? Did you go to an Ivy League School? Did you get a great education at a state school. Draw your battle lines and let's get started!
Are Ivy League schools really the best?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byYes! Ivy League and top tier schools are the only way to go!
No way! Public education is still great!
Give yourself a hand!
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Stop by and say hi! All input is greatly appreciated.
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Squidster
My boys still have a few years before we will start searching for a college but I'm already asking around for tips. I'm unfamiliar with the system here in the US and this lens is a great resource. Angel Blessings, keep up the good work! Posted September 25, 2008 |
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CrypticFragments
great info...as an adult just finally heading to college at age 40, I wish there was more info available to older NonTrad students about getting into regular 4 yr undergrad programs, and more facilities @ schools to make this easier! Posted September 16, 2008 |
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MusicMadness
Very thorough lens. I have a high school aged daughter that's getting close to university. I bookmarked your lens, and will me back in the very near future . . . too near I'm afraid ;) Posted August 28, 2008 |
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OhMe
Great info. Great lens. 5* Posted August 26, 2008 |
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jacquelinestone
This is great stuff! I chose my community college for the catalog of online courses because I live in a remote rural town. It was important that all my online credits would transfer to a major university. Posted August 24, 2008 |
My other lenses
- Shopping for the college dorm
- When kids walk into an empty dorm room on the first day, they will see 4 walls and a stripped bed. The lighting is bad, the room might smell and it seems strangely like a hospital. The faster they can make that room their own, the faster they will be on their way to a great school year.
As much as we hate to think about it-our kids dorms will be "home" all too soon. So what can we do to help them create their new home away from home?
On our way to letting go, we need to get them ready to leave. That means shopping. Where do we start? With "the list". - I made a lens in 30 minutes
- Have you made a lens in 30 minutes? Yes, come on over and add your link. No, check out what I did in 30 minutes then try it yourself!
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